Kamen Rider Dopant-Arc 1:Rising Warrior
by Iccirrion
Summary: ((AU to Kamen Rider W)) After leaving high school Hongo Ishida's choice of College will lead him into a life that he never would have expected. As Kamen Rider Warrior he must learn how to fight if he wants to graduate; but forces are working in the darkness and soon, Ishida and his new found friends will have to fight, not to learn, not for fun, but to survive.
1. A new school:Path of the W

**((Author's Note: Some of you may recognize the title of this story, I first started writing this about two years ago but got distracted by real life issues. When I finally got back to FanFiction recently I decided to delete what there was of the original story, but I have now decided to carry on with it. So here is the rebirth of Kamen Rider Dopant, enjoy.))**

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><p>Ishida examined the building in front of him, the red brick walls, the glass doors, the people he could see milling about inside, no matter how he looked at it, it seemed just like a normal school. He was mildly surprised, he had heard that the Dopant College was different; he didn't really read why, all he had bothered to check was its post-graduation employment rate, which was an impressive 100%. Deciding not to waste any more time, he walked into the building.<p>

Hongo Ishida was 19 years old, and fairly average, he had medium length black hair and brown eyes. He had just finished his exams with rather good results, and of course decided to go on to college, and with such a high employment rate, why not go for the Dopant college, even if the name was a bit odd, he hadn't heard anything bad about it, but then again he hadn't heard really anything about it, he hadn't made many friends at school and didn't listen much to news or gossip, more focused on his own work than what was going on around him. He could have done some research over the holiday but with his exams out of the way, he really couldn't be bothered. So it was that he arrived at his new College, finding himself face to face with the principle, he didn't really know what he was supposed to do.

"Good morning, you must be Hongo-kun." The principle said, Ishida noted that he seemed fairly young for a principle; he couldn't have been further than his early thirties. "I'm Narumi Sokichi, principle of the Dopant College." Ishida bowed, hoping that his shirt and tie was formal enough, he hadn't been able to find the uniform in any shops.

"As this is your first time at the College, you'll spend this week with one of the older students, they will show you the facilities and explain how things work here." The principle explained. "After that you can start towards earning your graduation." Ishida was confused.

"Earning my graduation?" He asked, he assumed that he would just be studying; doing coursework and exams, the term made sense, but it was a strange way to put it.

"You probably noticed that you didn't have to choose a course when you applied to the College, or how long you will be attending." The principle began to explain, "That is because here, every student is given their own individual course, how long it takes you to complete it is up to you, but I am able to tell you now what course you will be taking." The principle said as he pulled what appeared to be a largish white memory pen from his pocket and handed it to Ishida.

Ishida examined the item, on one side there was a black background with a white 'W' on it, stylised as if it was made from the top of a samurai's helmet. The word 'warrior' was written in white writing down one side. "Warrior, what does it mean?" Ishida asked, beginning to wonder if the Dopant College really was the right choice.

"It's the name of the course you will be taking." The principle answered, "That item is what we call a Gaiamemory, there are millions of different ones and every person has what we call a 'compatibility rate' with every memory. We choose Warrior for you because you're compatibility rate with it was much higher than the others."

Ishida was still confused, "So, what does my course involve?" he asked.

"I'll let Ryoutarou-kun explain the rest." The principle responded as a young man wearing the school uniform entered the hall. "Ishida-kun, this is Ryoutarou-kun, he's a couple of years ahead of you and he'll be your mentor this year."

Ryoutarou extended his hand, "Tachibana Ryoutarou, pleased to meet you." He said as Ishida shook his hand.

"Hongo Ishida."

"So, shall we begin our tour?" Ryoutarou asked rhetorically. Ishida nodded and followed after Ryoutarou as he began walking down the corridor.

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><p>"The College is quite young, and the teaching style is quite odd, so naturally people are wary of signing up. I'm glad to see a few new faces this year." Ryoutarou, had just finished showing Ishida the study rooms; they seemed more or less exactly like classrooms but everyone seemed to be doing something different and the 'teacher' just seemed to be supervising.<p>

"As everyone is doing a course specific to them, it is up to each individual student to study and research what their course involves, luckily this school has the world's largest and most extensive library as well as helpful staff who can help you towards finding the goal of your course."

This confused Ishida, the students didn't know what they were trying to achieve in their course, what exactly was _he _supposed to be studying, what kind of jobs would he be able to get into, why hadn't he done some more research into what the school was like.

"Hope you don't mind me asking, but what memory choose you?" Ryoutarou asked as they turned a corner.

"Warrior." Ishida answered, "Why, do you know what I'm supposed to do?"

Ryoutarou laughed, "Ishida-san, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing in my own course."

This further worried Ishida, he was starting to feel more and more like this College was a bad choice. "What memory do you have?" Ishida asked. Ryoutarou reached into his pocket and pulled out a black memory with a purple 'T' on it that seemed to be made of clouds.

"Thunder." He said, a smile on his face. "Come on, I should show you the most important thing you'll need to learn for being here."

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><p>Ishida looked around him; they were in what seemed to be a large sports hall, although while the floor did have a white line around the perimeter, there were no other lines to determine what kind of sports were played. As he looked up he saw the room was the full four stories tall, the height of the school itself. Ryoutarou stood opposite him, near the door.<p>

"This room is called the arena; there are six of these rooms in the school. This is where you will probably learn the most, considering the name of your memory." Ryoutarou told him, "Now, I have some things for you."

Ryoutarou set his bag on the ground and opened it, after a few seconds of rummaging he pulled out a metallic belt and what looked like a handheld games console. Ryoutarou threw the belt to Ishida, "That is the most important part of your school uniform, if you have to lose anything, it better not be your belt." Ishida looked at the belt he had been given, at what seemed to be the buckle there was a knob that looked like something was supposed to be attached to it. Hesitantly Ishida put the belt on, connecting the two ends behind his back, the belt automatically audjusting its size.

Ryoutarou walked up to Ishida and held out the device, "This is your DopanDriver, if you lose this, that memory of yours is useless." He said as Ishida took the device, it was the same metallic grey as the belt, with bright red trimming, what look like a pair of sliding doors was on the front of it, with a gaiamemory sized imprint in-between them. "Now, a demonstration." Ryoutarou took several steps away from Ishida before removing his jacket and setting it on the ground. Taking his own Driver, he turned around and held his memory up to Ishida, pressing the button on the front of it.

"**Thunder!**" A voice called from the memory. Ryoutarou placed his memory in the slot on the driver before attaching it to his belt.

"Henshin." He called as he positioned a hand at each side of the Driver and pushed, closing the doors over the memory, then pulling his hands back, grabbing onto the sides of the driver, rotating it into a horizontal position.

"**Thunder!**" The voice came again, a holographic image of the same 'T' as was on the memory appearing in front of the driver, it quickly exploded into a ring of what appeared to be binary which Ryoutarou walked through, black and purple particles appearing from the ground and starting to cover him from feet up. Soon Ryoutarou was completely covered and the particles smoothed over, forming an armoured figure standing in front of Ishida, his eyes were bug-like and purple, his forearms and lower legs both had additional plating on them.

"M-m-monster!" Ishida stuttered as he stumbled back, trying to get away from whatever had just appeared in front of him.

"What?" the figure asked in Ryoutarou's voice, as he reached down and twisted the Driver back into the vertical position and removed it, the armour breaking apart, the particles fading back into the ground. Ryoutarou stood in the figure's place, "I'm not a monster." Ryoutarou snapped, rather annoyed, "I'm a Kamen Rider; there's a good bit of difference."

Ishida looked up, "A Kamen Rider?" he asked.

Ryoutarou stared at Ishida, "You mean you don't…" Ryoutarou brought his palm to his face and groaned. "Oh, boy."

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><p>Ryoutarou sat across from Ishida in an empty room filled with tables and chair, a whiteboard hung on one wall.<p>

"So you mean to tell me, that you came to this College, without knowing anything about it. You don't even know what a Kamen Rider is. Do you ever watch television?" Ryoutarou asked.

"Umm, not really, there's never really anything interesting on, I prefer to read." Ishida replied, tapping his fingers together.

"Well. I guess I'd better start teaching you about what goes on here." Ryoutarou sighed as he set his Driver, Thunder memory and another grey memory with a 'B' on it that was stylized as if it had been cut into the memory.

"This is a Gaiamemory." Ryoutarou said picking up Thunder. "You've probably noticed it looks very like a USB memory pen, quick tip; don't put it in a computer, it will probably explode. That assumption is right in one aspect, that they both are used to store data, but unlike your standard shop-brought memory pen which stores the files you have on a computer, Gaiamemories store data directly from the Earth's memory." He explained, not that Ishida understood any of it, the Earth was just an inanimate object, how could it have a memory?

"For example, Thunder contains all the Earth's collective knowledge about Thunder, and your memory probably stores the all the information that exists about warriors; samurai, knights, soldiers. You've already been told that your memory choose you, this is because you have high compatibility, meaning that you are best able to absorb the data within this memory. That's what this College exists for, each student is given a Gaiamemory suited to them, and they become the best in that particular subject, take me for example, with the knowledge I'm learning, I have great career opportunities in meteorology. With me so far?"

Ishida nodded, he didn't get all of it but it was starting to make sense, he wondered what his memory would be good for; joining the army, the police, becoming a professional fighter, he couldn't say that those ideas didn't appeal to him. Ryoutarou set Thunder down and picked up the grey memory.

"This is what we call a Dummy Memory, these are Gaia-memories which contain very limited knowledge and are only used to enhance other Gaiamemories. This one is 'Blade', whenever I'm in my transformed state, the one you saw, I can use Blade to give myself a sword, and that's the extent of its power." Ryoutarou said.

"Can I ask something?" Ishida piped up. Ryoutarou nodded, "Why are there arenas, the ability to transform, you mentioned a sword…are we expected to fight each other?"

"Of course." Ryoutarou replied, "Leaning is quickest when you are directly connected to the memory, which is when we are in our Rider form. And it's been found that combat is the best way to draw out the knowledge. But don't worry, the school makes sure the matches never get out of hand, and the driver's limitation prevent you from seriously hurting anyone, unless you actually go after someone who has cancelled their transformation, but of course that will result in your immediate expulsion, confiscation of your driver and memories and of course a trip to the police."

Ishida nodded, the College was starting to sound kind of fun.

Finally Ryoutarou set down the grey memory and picked up the driver. "As I said before, this is a DopanDriver. This device allows you to draw out the power of your memory to transform into a Kamen Rider, don't ask me how or why it works, I don't know, nor does anyone else in the school, tampering with the Drivers is strictly forbidden. How powerful you will be in your rider form will be dependent on the memory you use, for example, your memory is warrior, which is certainly going to be a combat ready memory, unlike my Thunder which I have had to train to get as powerful as I am with it." Ryoutarou paused and took a breath, "So that's the short of it, if you need any more information you can use the school library, but I think my girlfriend will be better suited to telling you all about that."

Ishida was about to point out that a female student had just entered the room while Ryoutarou was talking, but before he could say anything she drove the heel of her palm into the back of Ryoutarou's head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ryoutarou exclaimed as the girl sat down beside him.

"I've told you several times that I do not appreciate being referred to as your girlfriend, and anyway, you're his mentor so it should have been you showing him anyway." The girl replied, brushing a strand of brown hair from her face.

"That doesn't mean you have to be violent." Ryoutarou argued, "And what did you mean 'should have'? I can still take him myself."

"I've been assigned to mentor him alongside you." The girl said, Ryoutarou fell silent.

"Ishida, would you mind waiting outside?" He asked quietly, Ishida obeyed leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He stood for a few seconds before leaning back against the wall and trying to listen the conversation.

"What do you mean you've been assigned to mentor him as well as me?" Ryoutarou sounded annoyed, even though his voice was rather faint. "There's only supposed to be one mentor per each new student."

"Were you not told about Hongo-kun's compatibility rate?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, it was exceptionally high, more than even Naoki's I was told." Ryoutarou responded.

'_Who's Naoki?_' Ishida wondered to himself, he was starting to get worried about where the conversation was going, was there something wrong with him?

"Far higher." The girl told Ryoutarou, "Ishida's compatibility with the Warrior memory…" she paused for a second before she finished, disbelief in her voice, "…is 100%."

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><p><strong>Well, Ishida's first day at his new College seems to have gotten off to an interesting start. What exactly has he gotten himself into? And what is so strange about his 100% compatibilty? The answers will be revealed in the next chapter, 'TransformationPath of the W'.**


	2. Transformation:Path of the W

"Is there a reason why we're doing this?" Ishida asked as Ryoutarou pulled his Thunder memory from his pocket and held up his Driver.

After the girl had told Ryoutarou about Ishida's 100% compatibility there had been a few seconds of silence before Ryoutarou suddenly burst out of the room saying that they had to go to the arena to test something.

"Not really." Ryoutarou replied, "I just thought that we should have a quick spar to see what level you're at."

Ishida nodded, he was worried about what his 100% compatibility meant, maybe this 'spar' had something to do with it.

Ryoutarou raised up his Thunder memory and activated it.

"**Thunder!**" it called as Ryoutarou set the memory in his driver and set the driver on his belt. He placed on hand on each door.

"Henshin!" He called as he pushed the doors closed and then pulled the driver into its horizontal position.

"**Thunder!**" the Driver called again, as Ryoutarou's black and purple armour formed around him. They both stood there for a few seconds before Ryoutarou finally spoke.

"Well, you going to try?"

Ishida fumbled around for his memory and pulled it out, looking at the white object for a moment before activating it.

"**Warrior!**" the memory called while Ishida took out his driver. Hesitantly he placed the memory in the slot and set the Driver onto the front of his belt, placing his hands on the side as Ryoutarou had.

"Henshin." Ishida said as he pushed the doors closed and twisted the Driver sideways.

"**Warrior!**" The Driver called as a holographic image of the 'W' from Ishida's memory appeared in front of the Driver before exploding into a ring of white data that flew over Ishida, particles flying from the ground as it did so, attaching themselves to Ishida's skin. Within a few moments Ishida was completely armoured.

On his head was a helmet, large, red eyes could be seen underneath the slits that formed his mask, his shoulder pads were large and ran parallel to his upper arms, almost doubling their thickness, his chest, forearms and lower legs were all covered in similar white armour, a black trim emphasising the edges. Under his armour was a white bodysuit, and his belt remained around his waist.

"Good Job." Ryoutarou called over, "Doesn't look half bad."

Ishida looked down at his armour, his new hands, the bulky shoulders, for some reason it didn't feel strange to him, he actually felt comfortable in his armour.

"Well then." Ryoutarou said as he lowered his stance. "Let's get started."

Ryoutarou charged at Ishida who barely had time to block his first punch by raising his left forearm, he responded instinctively by lifted his right leg in a roundhouse kick aimed for Ryoutarou's exposed side. Ryoutarou quickly jumped back, surprised by Ishida's quick reactions.

'_Damn, he's already able to keep up with Thunder._' Ryoutarou thought to himself as a voice called in his ear.

"You're not going to get anywhere if you hold back at all, you've seen how Naoki-sempai fights and even he's only 92.3%." The girl spoke into the earpiece built into his armour.

"I know, I just wanted to get a quick test." He whispered into his microphone. "Is defence all you're good at?" Ryoutarou spoke up, taunting Ishida.

Ishida smirked, he had noticed the way Ryoutarou had fled, how his attacks had scared him, which puzzled him in a way, when had he learned how to analyse battle's, it wasn't something he had ever tried to do before. Ishida charged at Ryoutarou, feinting a right hook before moving into a side kick, the move fooled Ryoutarou, who was sent flying back from the force of the kick.

"Stop screwing about!" The girl ordered Ryoutarou, "You know Thunder isn't a combat memory, unless you're planning on losing to the new guy you're going to have to start using thunder's abilities."

"Shut up Miu! I know what I'm doing here." Ryoutarou hissed into the microphone as black mist appeared around Ryoutarou's hands before he charge at Ishida launching a barrage of punches.

Ishida blocked most of Ryoutarou's punches, but a few got through, those that did creating a massive booming noise as they impacted, jarring Ishida. He kind of understood the power, Thunder was the massive sound created by bolts of lightning, in combat it seemed that Ryoutarou could turn the sound energy of a thunderclap into offensive power, the punches that hit certainly had hurt. Ishida was also starting to notice his own powers emerging, he was able to see Ryoutarou's attacks, almost before they happened, he reacted faster and he felt power filling his own limbs.

Ryoutarou took a step back after landing a few punches, he had to wrap things up soon, if he didn't it looked like Ishida was going to figure him out. He tapped a button on the top of his driver and a panel containing his memory popped out the left side of it. He pulled his memory out and pushed the panel back in.

"I think it's time to get going." Ryoutarou said as he set the memory in a slot on the right side of his belt and pressed the button on it.

"**Thunder, Maximum Drive!**" The belt called as Ryoutarou leaped into the air, landing upside down on a dark cloud that had appeared above Ishida.

"Rider Kick!" He called as the cloud was absorbed into his right leg and he jumped down towards Ishida, extending his leg.

The kick collided with Ishida's chest, unable to block he was sent flying across the room, his armour dematerializing as he came to a rest. Ryoutarou watched as Ishida got to his feet and twisted the Driver back into its vertical position and pulled it off his belt, his armour also disappearing. He walked over and offered his hand to Ishida.

Ishida took his hand and shook it, "Not bad for your first try." Ryoutarou complimented him, "You learn fast."

Ishida grinned, it felt good to know that he was already doing well, "You weren't too bad yourself." He joked, receiving a punch to the shoulder from Ryoutarou in return.

"You only got as far as you did because you have a combat-based memory." Ryoutarou complained as Miu walked up behind him.

"Stop making excuses." She said, knocking Ryoutarou over the head with the heel of her palm again. "You almost lost to the new guy fair and square, if you hadn't used the Maximum you would have."

Ryoutarou rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, yeah. Well why don't you show him the library while I try and find a way to protect my reputation." He said as he picked up his jacket and left the room.

Miu sighed and turned to Ishida, "I'm sorry about Ryoutarou, he doesn't take losing too well." She explained before bowing slightly, "I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Takaya Miu, I'm Ryoutarou's tag team partner for competitions and…" she pulled a white Gaiamemory from her jacket pocket, the letter 'L' was written on it, stylised as if it was made of electricity, "…Kamen Rider Lightning."

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><p>Ishida followed Miu into the library, although he was fairly certain they were in the wrong place. The room was long and rather thin, and noticeably, there were no books, just twelve machines that lined the side walls of the room, six on each side, the looked large enough to fit a fully-grown person inside and hummed quietly.<p>

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Ishida asked as he followed Miu into the room.

Miu smiled as she answered, "Of course, Ryoutarou probably told you we have the world's largest library." She said as she opened up two of the machines and stepped inside one, "So large that we can't really fit it on campus." Ishida nervously stepped into the second open machine as both of them automatically closed the doors, Miu's voice continued through a speaker. "You see, our Library is the Earth."

Ishida blinked, he was just more confused.

"I'm linking our divers so I can guide you through the library." Miu said. "As soon as you're ready just lean back and close your eyes."

Ishida stood silently for a second before curiosity got the better of him, he leaned back, feeling his head slot into a frame, and closed his eyes.

He stood there, waiting for something to happen, until he felt a sharp pain in his forehead.

"Ow!" he cried as he stepped back and opened his eyes, Miu was standing in front of him, obviously having been the one who had flicked him. But before he could complain he noticed where they were; everything was white, he couldn't see where the ground ended, where the walls or ceiling began, and for as far as he could see were bookshelves, in every direction.

"Welcome to the Planetary Bookshelves." Miu declared, spreading her arms out, gesturing to the massive room, "Your school Library."

Ishida looked in awe around him, before something occurred to him, "How exactly do you find a book here?" He asked as he turned back to Miu, who simply smiled.

"Easy." She extended her left arm out to the side, a glow appearing underneath her. "Warrior Memory." She spoke clearly, the words appearing in green text in front of her face. For a split-second nothing happened, but then the bookshelves started moving, many flying off into the distance as others came closer, a book or two flying of the shelf before flying off with the others, after a few short seconds the bookshelves had all disappeared, only a few books still floated around Ishida and Miu, who walked up to the nearest one and picked it up, it was white, with a red border on the front cover and the single word 'Warrior' written in red text on the front of it.

"There, these are all the books related to your warrior memory." Miu explained as she flicked through a few pages. "Before you leave today, I'll give you your own book to use in the library, it would be inconvenient for other students if you were to read the book while in the Library.

Ishida looked around at the books, "I never thought a Library could be such an awesome place." He thought out loud. "But, we got here by setting our heads in those frames, so how do we leave if we obviously aren't using our bodies anymore?"

"Again, fairly simple." Miu said as she closed her eyes, "Just relax and…" She leaned forward, her body glowing green before disappearing in a cloud of binary.

Ishida stood silently in the Library for a few seconds before exhaling, closing his eyes and leaning forward.

He again opened his eyes to a sharp pain in his forehead, he had obviously leaned too far, his head now resting on the metal door of the pod. He was about to stand up, but the door opened, freeing Ishida to continue moving forward, landing on his face in front of Miu.

She laughed quickly before leaning down to help him up, "It can be quite disorienting the first few times you use a Diver. But you should get used to it after a week or two." She told him as he got to his feet. She glanced at a watch on her left wrist, it was about half-past noon.

"So, I think we've shown you most of the school, so for the first week, you should try and plan what you think you need for your graduation and get used to using your memory, as your mentors me and Ryoutarou will be free this week to answer any questions you might have." Miu told him as they left the room. "Is there anything you'd like to know now?" She asked as they started heading down a set of stairs.

Ishida thought for a moment before asking, "I've been wondering about why we use Gaiamemories, could you explain how exactly this school came about?"

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><p><strong>Transforming for the first time, Ishida has taken the first step on his path as a Kamen Rider. But how exactly did the school come about, didn't people think it was dangerous trusting people with such dangerous devices? Find out in the next chapter: 'BeginningPath of the W'.**


	3. Beginning:Path of the W

Ishida sat down at the table with a small tray of food, Miu sat down opposite him, examining the Lightning memory she had.

"So you want a history lesson then?" She asked as she pocketed the memory, Ishida nodded as he started into his meal.

"Well it all started about twelve years ago now." Miu started, "A research institution that focused on human evolution called Museum discovered a method for releasing memories from the Earth, they contained these memories in small devices, which soon came to be termed 'Gaiamemories'. These first Gaiamemories could be used by humans via a bio-connector, a unique mark they could imprint into their skin, allowing the user to absorb the knowledge contained within the memory, as well as evolving their physical form. These new, evolved humans became known as 'Dopants'." Miu stopped to take a drink from a water bottle in her pocket.

"If people can use the memories directly, then why do we need to use Drivers, and why don't you ever see any of these Dopants?" Ishida asked as he finished a mouthful of rice.

"I'll get to that." Miu said as she set her bottle down on the table. "At first the Dopants were accepted as citizens, other than various groups who were against genetic experimentation and the like. But soon Dopants started to attack people and places, seemingly at random. After some research it turned out that using the Gaiamemories produced an extremely narcotic substance, especially so when their power is being used destructively."

Ishida nodded, "People became addicted to using the Gaiamemories." Miu nodded.

"And typically the government soon banned the sale and use of Gaiamemories. Many people abided by the law and turned in their memories, but as with anything, people still dealt with them in the black market." Miu continued explaining. "Until one day, just under a decade ago, a new Dopant was rumoured to start appearing, one who only seemed to attack the other Dopants. He later revealed himself publically, and put forward his own research into Gaiamemories, a way to use them that prevent the release of the narcotic." Miu continued to explain.

"The first Kamen Rider…" Ishida muttered to himself as he continued to eat.

"Yes, his name is Narumi Sokichi, the principal of this school." Miu carried on, "He put forward the idea of using the memories in a controlled environment where they can be used to create the ultimate experts in specific fields. It did take a couple of years of debating but eventually the government approved his plan, and that's the quick history of how the Dopant College was established. Any questions?"

Ishida thought for a few seconds before asking, "What happened to the remaining Dopants?"

Miu replied quickly, "Since the founding of the College, anyone who really wants to obtain a Gaiamemory can apply to this school, it's far easier than trying to get one illegally and it's not like many people actually want one. So basically there just phased out of existence, I think a few crop up every now and then but they always get dealt with."

Ishida stood up having finished his food, "So what do I do for the rest of the day?" He asked as Miu also stood up and they walked over to the cafeteria's counter.

"Well, you could head back to the Library if you want to start looking into your memory, I could introduce you to Abarai-sensei who could help you plan your course, or Ryoutarou and I were planning on sparring later if you wanted to come and watch." Miu said, listing the things of on her fingers. "So, your choice."

Ishida thought through the choices, it would be interesting to go back to the Library and actually read up on his powers, and talking to a teacher might help him get in order for the year ahead. "It would be interesting to see you guys spar." He grinned, "Ryoutarou said that due to the nature of my memory that I'd learn most in the Arena."

Miu smiled slightly, "I guess he's right about that. In that case let's go find him." She said as they left the room.

"I just have one more question." Ishida spoke up as they walked through the corridor, heading towards the Arena Ishida had fought Ryoutarou earlier. "What exactly does it mean, me having a compatibility of 100%?" He asked.

Miu instantly stopped, her gaze down, "You heard that?" She asked nervously. Ishida nodded, sighing Miu spoke up again, "Narumi-sensei has probably already told you that the memory a student is given is the one they have the highest compatibility with."

Ishida nodded, "That's why I'm wondering, why is 100% so strange?"

Miu sighed again, "Your compatibility is a measure of how well you can extract the data within a memory, and the growth is exponential, for example; if someone has 20% compatibility and another has 30%, the higher compatibility one would be twice as effective as drawing out the data; but if someone came along with 40% compatibility they would be maybe three times more effective than the one with 30%, so when you scale that up to your 100%..." her voice trailed off.

Ishida's jaw dropped as he tried to do the math, if the difference could be so much at that low a level, then how would his 100% compare to the others.

Miu quickly spoke up again, "It's nothing to worry about, it's just never happened before, but all it means is you might only be her for two years, maybe even one."

Ishida was rather surprised at that, graduating after only a year, he wouldn't even be twenty yet he could be finished his higher education.

"You should just forget about it, focus on what's in front of you." Miu said as she started walking again, "We should hurry and find Ryoutarou."

Ishida watched from behind the glass wall of the Arena as Miu and Ryoutarou stood opposite each other, their memories in their right hands, their drivers in their left. They each raised their memories and activated them.

"**Thunder! Lightning!**" The memories called as they set them in their drivers, Ishida kept his eyes on Miu, he already knew Ryoutarou's form, he was interested in what Kamen Rider Lightning would look like.

Ryoutarou and Miu set their Drivers on their belts and with a simultaneous cry of 'Henshin' they activated the Drivers.

"**Thunder! Lightning!**' The drivers called as the rings of data appeared. Ishida watched as white particles flew up from the ground and enveloped Miu before solidifying into a suit of white and silver armour. Compared to Ryoutarou and Ishida's armour it was rather light looking but with two large shoulder pads that sloped up towards her head, shielding it from the sides. A single thin visor crossed where her eyes would be and a silver thunderbolt adorned her helmet.

Ishida watched as the two began circling each other, before Ryoutarou suddenly leapt forward with a hook. Miu gracefully dodged before deliver a swift kick to Ryoutarou's back, although it didn't seem to do much. Ishida's mind started clocking over again, '_Must be an effect of using the Warrior memory_', he thought to himself. As the fight proceeded, Ishida found himself more and more often being able to predict the attacks that each of the combatants would use, he also noticed how balanced their memories seemed to be; Thunder had powerful defence and devastating attacks but compared the speed and agility of Lightning it was incredibly slow, so while Ryoutarou was able to tank his way through most of Miu's attacks he was having a lot of trouble landing any of his own hits.

The fight continued for about fifteen minutes, Ryoutarou finally showing signs of tiring, Miu's attacks starting to have an effect. Miu saw the chance herself and pressed the button on her driver, ejecting the Gaiamemory before slotting it into the slot on the right side of the belt and activating it.

"**Lightning, Maximum Drive!**" The Driver called as Miu reached her right hand towards the roof as it became enveloped in flickering white electricity, she held it there for a few seconds before slamming her fist into the floor, sending a shockwave through the ground and into Ryoutarou, who was sent flying back into the opposite wall, his armour disintegrating.

As Ishida decided to enter the room, Miu cancelled her transformation and walked over to Ryoutarou, laughing quietly as she helped him up.

"Maybe I should team up with Ishida next time, get someone who can put up a fight." She joked as Ryoutarou removed his memory from his Driver, smiling himself.

"Couldn't really call yourself 'Storm' if you did that though." Ryoutarou said as they started walking towards the door.

"Storm?" Ishida asked, curious about the name.

"Our team name. If you want to form a tag-team with someone you generally give yourselves a special name to identify the particular team up." Miu explained, "For us 'Storm' seemed like an obvious choice." She turned to Ryoutarou, "You should go on up and get Ishida his uniform and textbook. I have some studying to do."

Ryoutarou nodded as Miu walked off, giving a quick wave over her shoulder. "The uniforms are kept upstairs." He said as he adjusted his tie, "You know what size you are, right?"

Ishida looked at himself in the mirror. Was this what a Kamen Rider looked like, in front of him stood a young man, he was dressed in a grey blazer with a red trim, underneath that was a white shirt and around his neck a red tie with two grey stripes crossing over it, the man wore black trousers and shoes, and a slightly odd looking grey and red belt. The man's black hair was combed back and his brown eyes looked back into Ishida's own.

"Done admiring yourself?" Ryoutarou asked as he entered the room, looking rather similar to Ishida now they were both in uniform. Ryoutarou's right hand held a large hardback book, the cover had some simple border designs on it but no text. He passed it to Ishida, "This is your textbook, you will want to look after it."

Ishida took the book and started flicking through it, his face grew puzzled. "It's blank." He stated as he closed it over.

Ryoutarou laughed, "Of course it is. Miu's already shown you the Library, but you think that those twelve divers would be enough for the whole school." He pulled his own textbook out of his bag, it looked the same except the word 'Nimbus' was written on the cover. "Whenever you enter the Planetary bookshelves you take the book with you, whenever you touch a book in the library, it's contents are transferred to the textbook, allowing you to read it anywhere." He flicked through his own book, showing long streams of text, detailed diagrams and even photographs.

Ishida was rather impressed, "How does it…"

Ryoutarou suddenly had his hand in Ishida's face, "Don't ever ask anyone how it works, no one knows. The same goes for your memories and Driver, just accept it." Ishida nodded as Ryoutarou lowered his hand.

"So anyway, tomorrow I can introduce you to Abarai-sensei, he's the school expert on what different memories contain, he'll be able to help you plan your course for the coming year." Ryoutarou told Ishida as he put his book back in his bag. "But for now I think you should head home, you've probably got a lot to process."

"I guess so." Ishida grinned as they left the room and started off towards the main door, once they got there Ryoutarou turned to Ishida, his face serious.

"One last rule: Never transform outside of this building." He said strictly, "There are people out there who have a bit of a grudge against the school and transforming when you are out alone might be enough to have them after you."

Ishida paused for a second, about to ask who, but decided against saying anything other than, "I've survived this long without having to transform, I think I can keep it up for just outside of school."

"I'm home!" Ishida called as he took his shoes off and entered the house, the smell of cooked chicken filling the house.

"Welcome home." Another voice called from the kitchen, as Ishida hung up his blazer and tie.

Ishida walked up to the kitchen door and leant in, a man, only a couple of years older than Ishida, leant over the table, laying out plates and cutlery.

"I'm trying to do a British-style roast today." The man said as he leant down and pulled a tray with a small roast chicken on it out of the oven, "Although I think we might be eating it for the rest of the week as well." He laughed.

The man was Hongo Tachibana, Ishida's older brother, they looked almost exactly the same, except that Tachibana kept his hair cut extremely short and had pale blue eyes. He was also training to become a chef at a local restaurant that served international cuisine, so Ishida would often be 'treated' to a very varied set of meals.

"Can't we ever just have rice or something." Ishida joked as he entered the room, his hand went to his pocket to retrieve his phone, but as he pulled it out his finger caught on his Gaiamemory, which clattered to the floor.

Before Ishida could lean down to retrieve it, Tachibana had already picked it up, there was something in his eyes that Ishida didn't recognise in his brother.

"Gaiamemory?" He said, his voice a tight whisper, before he suddenly had a smile on his face again, his eyes once more kind, "So that's the College you applied for." He said as he passed the memory to Ishida. "I heard they have a rather strict application process."

Ishida shook his head, "I just sort of arrived and they gave me that." He sat down at the table, "I didn't even realize it was such a different school until I during the tour."

Tachibana finished laying out the food at sat down opposite him, the two chairs at the other sides of the table lying empty, but plates still in front of them. Ishida and Tachibana looked at the chairs for a few seconds before bring their hands together.

"Itadakimasu."

* * *

><p><strong>So begins Ishida's life as a student Kamen Rider. Soon he will begin his path as 'Warrior' and face his first true challenge in the next chapter, 'Bright LightShining N'.**


	4. Bright Light:Shining N

The alarm clock blared as Ishida was brushing his teeth, he quickly finished up and went to turn it off. He had woken up early enough by himself, same as he had been doing so for the last week, always looking forward to his day ahead at school, his alarm clock now being more annoying than helpful. He went back into his bathroom and checked himself in the mirror; hair combed, clean shaven, teeth cleaned; he listed off the things in his mind, he certainly felt ready, the weekend had been far too long.

He ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Tachibana was frying something over the hob, still in his dressing gown.

"Good morning." He said, yawning, "You want something to eat?"

"No thanks, I've already eaten." Ishida replied as he checked his blazer, his pens in his breast pocket, his Gaiamemory and driver in their special pockets on this inside of his blazer, his small notebook in his right pocket and a cereal bar in his left, everything where it was supposed to be.

"You must've been up early." Tachibana commented as he took the frying pan off the hob and set it on a mat on the table, the smell of bacon filling the room. "Never thought I would see the day where you would be so eager to get to school." He smiled at his little brother as he walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread, bringing it over to the table.

"Neither did I." Ishida laughed as he checked his bag, his textbook and a block of lined paper lay side by side, several spare pens lying with them, he checked the hidden pocket in the side of the bag and felt his wallet, that was lunch sorted. He lifted up his arms and put on his blazer, looking at himself again in the hall mirror.

"Well, I'm off." Ishida called as he opened the front door.

"Have a safe trip!" Tachibana called back as the door closed, his smile disappearing as he heard it click shit. He sighed as he started eating the sandwich he had made, he knew he should be happy that Ishida got into the Dopant College, but at the same time he was jealous, he himself had applied several times for a place there, but had always been refused, they never gave him an explanation, just sent back his applications with 'denied' stamped onto it.

Tachibana chewed slowly, he had so desperately wanted to get into that College, to try using a Gaiamemory… even if it was just one more time.

* * *

><p>Ishida arrived at the school about half an hour before classes were due to start; he examined the building again, this time seeing it for what it was. He had spent the last week going around the school with Ryoutarou and Miu, getting to know the layout, how he would proceed through his course and getting a plan set up for what he was going to study, not to mention the several sparring sessions he and Ryoutarou had had, Ishida coming very close to defeating Ryoutarou on the Friday.<p>

He walked into the main hall and looked around; there were several other students, most standing talking in groups. They were all various ages, most seemed to be fairly young, late teens to mid-twenties. He had been told that was how home room classes were arranged, he would be sat in a class with the other students who had come straight from high school. He wondered briefly what sort of people they were, what kind of memories they had.

Ishida brought a small note out of his trouser pocket and looked at it, 'Study Room D-7' was written on it in untidy hand writing; that was his homeroom, he knew where D-block was, but he couldn't remember if he had been shown much around that area, it was mostly just classrooms and arena two. He started walking through the corridors, greeting a few of the people he knew and some of those he didn't.

He eventually arrived at D-block and started looking above all the doors for where he was supposed to go, it didn't take too long, it was just at a corner on the first floor, directly opposite one of the viewing windows for the arena. He opened the door and walked in, there were only three other people in the room, a girl with long black hair sat reading her textbook, occasionally taking notes, a boy with spiked blond hair sat in the back corner, nodding his head to music playing through his earphones, and the teacher sat at a desk at the front of the class, reading a thick book, seemingly a manga.

The teacher looked up as Ishida entered the room and smiled, "You must be Hongo-kun." She said as she set her book down on the desk. "I'm Sakura Ino; I'll be your home room teacher for this year." She said as the girl who had been reading the textbook looked up at Ishida; she quickly looked him up and down before giving an almost imperceptible shrug and turning back to her book.

"We don't have a specific seating plan here, so just sit where you want for now." She said as she picked her book back up and started reading again. Ishida nodded and looked around, a seat in the middle of the class, towards the window that looked over the arena, caught his eye. He walked over and sat down, wondering what to do until classes began, he could start looking though his text book, or maybe ask one of the others if they would consider a duel at some point in the day, or was it too early to make requests like that?

Ishida's question was soon answered by the blond haired boy who had stood up and walked over to Ishida without being noticed.

"Hi." He said simply as he sat down in the chair beside Ishida, "I'm Nago Kenji."

Ishida turned and looked more closely at the boy, he was definitely around his age, his eyes a lively blue and a face that seemed very calm compared to how his fingers were twitching and feet were tapping.

"Hongo Ishida pleased to meet you." Ishida said as he held out his hand, Kenji took it and shook.

"You seem like you might be a fun person to duel with." Kenji commented as he reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a black Gaiamemory. "What do you say? I have no commitments first period."

Ishida smiled, he didn't have anything to do first period either, and he had been eager to test his skills against someone other than Ryoutarou.

"Sure, but I'll warn you, my memory is combat based." He said as he pulled out his own white memory. Kenji smirked as he held up his own memory.

"Don't think that'll make it easy for you." He warned as he pressed the button on the front of his memory.

"**Neon!**"

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Kenji and Ishida were standing opposite each other in the arena; several other students from their class watching them through the window, students were encouraged to watch duels as well as partake in them, they had been told that a lot can be learned from seeing fighting styles other than your own.<p>

Ishida set his blazer down on the ground at the edge of the arena after pulling out his Driver and Memory, Kenji did likewise and turned to face Ishida, who held up his memory and activated it.

"**Warrior!**" The memory called as Ishida placed it in the Driver. Kenji held up his own memory and activated it, placing it in his Driver.

"**Neon!**" It called as they both set their Drivers on their belts.

"Henshin!" Ishida and Kenji called, almost in sync as they closed the doors on their Drivers and twisted them into the horizontal position.

"**Warrior! Neon!**" The voices of the Drivers called out as a ring of data appeared in front of each of them and flew through them both, their armour appearing as they did so.

Ishida looked over at Kenji's Rider form. He was covered from head to toe in black armour that was much less bulky than Ishida's own; glowing, white lights ran along his arms and legs and across his chest and back, all leading up to two bug-like eyes of the same colour, there were no details on his armour other than the lights and the Driver.

"Shall we get started then?" Ishida asked as he charge forward, raising his right arm for a punch, but just before it hit, the lights on Kenji's body changed to red and he suddenly darted to the right, out of the way of Ishida's attack. Before he could recover the lights changed to blue and Kenji launched a kick at Ishida that sent him flying back.

Ishida quickly recovered, rolling into a defensive crouch, his fists raised. So that was how his power worked, it seemed he could enhance certain aspects of his physical abilities when the lights on his body changed colour, he had already seen that red made him go significantly faster and blue was a strength boost, what other abilities did he have?

The lights on Kenji's body changed back to white as he tilted his head.

"Is that all?" He asked mockingly as Ishida got to his feet.

"Nothing near." Ishida replied as he charged again, this time trying to hit him with a roundhouse kick, but just before it hit, the lights turned green and Ishida's foot collided with what felt like a solid wall. He cried out, pulling his foot back and hopping back a few steps.

"Did that hurt?" Kenji laughed as he turned red again and was suddenly inches from Ishida before he launched a barrage of punches at his stomach, his lights changing to blue as the last punch hit, sending Ishida flying back again.

"Damn it." Ishida scowled under his breath as he stood up, he had already figured out his own ability was to be able to quickly analyse and predict his opponent's fighting style, but Neon's ability was unpredictable without being able to read Kenji's mind, there were no physical signs of when or what type he would change to. It was rather humiliating, Ishida was fairly certain that Neon wasn't a combat memory, but because it just so happened to be effective at countering Warrior's own ability he was going to lose his first proper battle.

"I guess we should finish it here." Kenji said as he pressed the button on the left side of his Driver and his memory popped out the right. He took it and placed it in the slot on the right side of his belt.

"I really thought you would be more of a challenge than this." Kenji sighed as he shook his head and pressed the button on the memory slot.

"**Neon! Maximum Drive!**" Called the voice from his Driver as Kenji held his hand out in front of him, his palm turned towards Ishida. A white orb of energy appeared in his hand and Kenji's armour started cycling through various colours; red, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange and cyan; each time an orb of that colour appearing in his palm.

"Neon Prism!" Kenji called as he thrust his palm forward, the orbs flying towards Ishida, joining together just as they collided with him.

Ishida was thrown across the room by the impact, hitting the wall and dropping to the floor, he lay there for a few seconds before his armour crumbled. Kenji walked over and knelt down in front of him.

"I thought you said your memory was combat based?" Kenji mocked, "I didn't break a sweat back there." He stood up and took off his Driver, his own armour disintegrating as he walked off towards his blazer, "Maybe you can try again another day." He said as he picked up his blazer and slung it over his shoulder before walking towards the door.

Ishida just sat there, angry at himself for letting himself get beaten so easily, he would definitely try again, but first he had to figure out just how to counter Neon's ability.

Suddenly a hand came down on Ishida's shoulder and he looked up to see Ryoutarou standing over him, a knowing smile on his face.

"Get up." He instructed as he offered Ishida his hand. "We've got some training to do."

* * *

><p><strong>What is Ryoutarou's solution to this new challenge? Find out in the next chapter, 'Armored ThunderShining N'.**


End file.
